Not far into the journey, a house emerged from a place shaded by clusters of flowers, trees and bamboos. Bao Zheng and his young servant Bao Xin walked up to the house and knocked on the door to inquire about the house. After a while, the house door opened and an old servant poked his head out.
"Lao Lao Zhang informed Mr. Lu that his student Bao Zheng has come to visit his mentor." Bao Zheng said respectfully.
The old man hurriedly returned the gift to report. After a while, the door of the house opened wide, and an old man in green robe came down to greet him, surrounded by two young gentlemen.
"Mr. Bao is here with great dignity. The old man has failed to greet you from afar, and has failed to respect me. I have to atone for my sins." The old man bowed his hands and sang "Fai Nai" in a loud voice.
Bao Zheng hurriedly returned the greeting and said: "Why did my mentor say this? This is going to kill Bao Zheng. Bao Zheng made a special trip to visit his mentor. It is purely a private visit and has nothing to do with official matters."
The old man chuckled and moved his eyes to Su Jin behind Bao Zheng. He was suddenly startled and asked: "Isn't this a big celebrity in Luzhou City and a minor official of Su Ji? Why did you come to this old man's humble residence today?
What a waste of time."
Su Jin cupped his fists and saluted: "Hello, Mr. Lu, Su Jin is disturbing me."
Bao Zheng looked at the two of them doubtfully and said, "So you know each other?" After saying that, he looked at Su Jin with some displeasure.
Su Jin knew that he had misunderstood her. He knew Master Tixue clearly, but told Bao Zheng that he didn't know him. Asking him to introduce him was taking advantage of Bao Zheng's face, and at the same time, his words were untruthful. He hurriedly explained:
"I didn't know that Mr. Tixue was my Su Ji's customer. I just found out when we met just now. It turns out that Mr. Tixue was the first customer of Su Ji who made custom skirts for me. Luzhou City is too small, so I didn't expect to meet him here."
Lu Tixue laughed loudly and said: "We can't meet each other anywhere in the world, let alone in this small city of Luzhou. Speaking of which, I made Su Xiaoguan five taels of silver ingots that day."
Bao Zheng was confused. Seeing the two of them talking happily, he was a little confused about what was going on. So Su Jin explained in detail about Su Ji's dress show, and when it came to using a lottery to attract customers to order.
, when the winner of the first prize was Mr. Tixue, Bao Zheng laughed happily.
"I didn't expect that my mentor would go to such an occasion to join in the fun. Mr. Su also has many ideas and tricks. He actually uses such a method to attract customers. How brilliant!"
"That day, I was walking on the street with some friends, but I saw Su Xiaoguan setting up a colorful platform in front of the City God's Temple. I didn't like that kind of occasion, but I was attracted by the poems, songs and dances, and Su Xiaoguan's business methods.
I had a wonderful idea, and I fell in love without realizing it, so I ordered one for my old wife at home." Mr. Lu was twirling his beard in amusement.
Su Jin blushed and said with a smile: "It's a small skill, but I didn't know that Master Tixue was there that day, otherwise I wouldn't dare to accept your money."
Mr. Lu said: "Are you saying that this old man is a corrupt official who bullies others into buying things without giving them money?"
Su Jin was startled, while Bao Zheng and Mr. Lu looked at each other and laughed.
The three of them entered the courtyard and saw that the small courtyard had been tidied up elegantly and quietly. Several old banyan trees at the west end formed a large shady area. Rows of stone benches and tables were placed under the banyan trees. Several people dressed as scholars were sitting there.
Sit and talk.
Bao Zheng smiled and said: "My mentor is still the same. He likes to be with these young talents. Like the students back then, they came to my mentor's house to study the scriptures."
Mr. Lu smiled and said: "Yes, I am useless. I can only hope to recommend some good talents and good qualities. These are students who study hard and have a poor life. I am here where they gather every ten days to talk about their learning experiences."
There is no place for them. I am old and have no talent and learning. I can only provide a place for them to come here to communicate and debate. It is beneficial to what they learn. I don’t want them to become nerds who study hard.”
Su Jin secretly admired the idea of this master from Mainland China who was quite advanced. Students can debate their opinions and discuss what they have learned here, which is a kind of exchange, complementation and promotion of integration. It is a common problem of ancient scholars to be good at reading without asking for deep understanding.
This kind of gathering and discussion is definitely conducive to emancipating the mind and diverging thinking.
Just as he was thinking about it, he suddenly heard Bao Zheng say: "Master, why don't you set up a place in the government school so that students can communicate freely?"
Mr. Lu laughed and said: "Although I am in charge of the government school in name, it is not a place for casual discussions. Young people's words are extreme. They often talk about the past dynasties or saints and their remarks are easy to be extreme. The speaker has no intention but the listener has the intention. Some words will be wrong.
If someone mistakenly thinks you are shadowing something, it can easily lead to trouble, so I did this out of necessity."
Bao Zheng nodded silently. Mr. Lu said something cryptic, but Su Jin could also hear it. It must be a non-pure land in the Fu School. Maybe Zhu Shiyong had the professor's spy, and any extreme words would be spread within minutes.
In Zhu Shiyong's ears, there have always been officials who relied on the Luo Zhi Literary Prison as a capital for official promotion, and the Song Dynasty was probably no exception.
The three of them walked to the stone table under the banyan tree. From a distance, they could hear the students discussing something intensely. A young master who was following them stepped forward to stop, but Bao Zheng waved his hand to signal him not to come forward.
, stopped and listened, Su Jin also listened carefully when he saw this, but saw a thin scholar in blue making an impassioned speech.
"The 'three redundancies' mentioned by Song Zijing are actually as sharp as a torch and point directly to the shortcomings; the theory of 'three expenses' is also analyzed in detail, among which: 'soldiers are based on food, food is based on goods, and the sage is the best in the world.
There are no old grains in Zuozang, no three-year-old millet in Taicang, and there is still no way to smelt copper cabinets. In this way, Taiping has been in decline, good sources have been lost, and they have been used in vain. The imperial court has three major problems.
Redundancy, a small amount of three costs, is used to trap the world's wealth. If the wealth is poor, it is useless to use it, and if you want to raise an army for far-reaching tasks, you have no plan. If you can get rid of three redundancies, save three costs, and prepare a military camp in the northwest, you can rest easy.'
These words and sentences are true to the heart and can reveal true knowledge. I am particularly impressed by them."
Su Jin half understood what he heard, and turned to look at Bao Zheng and Mr. Lu, only to see them smiling and looking quite pleased.
Another scholar retorted: "Brother Songhe seems to highly admire the theory of three redundancies and three charges, but I don't know why Song Zijing has been writing for many years, so why are the disadvantages of these three redundancies and three charges still obvious? If Brother Songhe is extremely
We advocate the elimination of this shortcoming, but why do we study and make progress? To be a redundant official is to stab our own shield with our own spear. If we win, we are the king, and if we lose, we are the king. This is a confusing account."
Su Jin understood it slightly. Su Jin knew the word "San Rong". He didn't learn it in vain in the Chinese Department of later generations. He was a little confused when he heard it, but after thinking about it carefully, "memories came to mind".
"Three redundancies" is a general term put forward by Emperor Qishangshu of the Song Dynasty to describe bloated institutions and huge costs. "Redundant" means redundant.
The so-called three redundancies refer to redundant soldiers, redundant officials, and redundant expenses. To put it simply, there are too many redundant soldiers, too many redundant officials, and too many redundant funds, which directly leads to the fiscal tightness of the dynasty and military expenditures.
There is no balance in fiscal expenditures everywhere.
When Song Qi put forward this suggestion, he was worried that there would be no balance in peacetime. If there was a war or a famine, how would the court have the funds to support it? But now that the dispute between the Northwest and the Xia Dynasty has been at war for nearly three years, it has indeed emerged.
Despite the unsustainable situation, it can be seen that Song Qi still has a vision. Yi Nao' is enough to make him remember that there was such a person in the Song Dynasty. He did not expect to live in this era and have such knowledge.
At this moment, the blue-robed scholar opposite said again: "Brother Bai, as extreme as you are, how do you know the intention of Song Gong's words? Talking about redundant officials and abolishing the imperial examination are two different things. To abolish the imperial examination in order not to increase the number of officials will break the desire of scholars all over the world."
I think that it is a completely stupid move to swallow dates for fear of toothache. To eradicate redundant officials is to put talented people in their positions, and mediocre people with mixed salaries return to their hometowns. The so-called capable people are promoted and the mediocre are demoted. This is the most reasonable thing; we will wait.
Participating in the imperial examination is with the heart of serving the country. If I am lucky enough to be an official in the future, I will self-denial and fulfill my responsibilities and be good at governance. If I become a redundant official, I will go to the official position and farm on my own without the court's order."
Su Jin nodded secretly when he heard this, especially Su Jin, who was deeply impressed by this little scholar in blue. If the words "the capable are superior to the mediocre and the inferior are inferior" are put forward in later generations, it will be regarded as a false slogan, and there was such a scholar and student in the Song Dynasty.
To be able to say such words is indeed a kind of advanced consciousness. There seems to be something called 'min zhu' in it.
Su Jin thought this way, and Bao Zheng and Mr. Lu were almost shocked. Bao Zheng glanced at Mr. Lu with some worry, and Mr. Lu smiled bitterly and shook his head, because these words can easily be used as a means of attack by others. I'm sorry,
What is a mediocre person? If the three redundancies have not been resolved so far, doesn't it mean that the entire court is a generation of incompetent mediocrities? If these words are used by others, I'm afraid there will be a lot of trouble.
The scholar named Zhibai who retorted just sneered, but did not say anything to fight back. Master Lu quickly ordered a young scholar next to him to stop, and asked these students to come to see Bao Zheng to eliminate the possibility.